Donald Trump has called for the release of all Jan. 6 inmates after Tucker Carlson revealed new footage, which he says sheds new perspective on the 2021 Capitol unrest.
“Congratulations to Tucker Carlson on one of the biggest scoops as a reporter in US history,” Trump wrote on social media.
“The new surveillance footage of the events of January 6 sheds a completely different light on what really happened. The Unselect Committee was a gigantic SCAM and has now been unequivocally labeled as CRIMINAL FABRICATORS OF THIS MOST IMPORTANT DAY… LET THEM GO FREE NOW!’
Former President Donald Trump demands all prisoners convicted of crimes as of January 6, 2021 be released based on footage made available by Speaker McCarthy and shown by Tucker Carlson
Former President Donald Trump claims that then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021 security breaches.
In footage shown on his show Monday night, would-be QAnon shaman Jacob Chansley was apparently escorted from the Capitol to the Senate by police officers.
Carlson suggested he challenged the prevailing narrative that Chansley – who had been jailed for four years over the incident – stormed aggressively into the room.
On Tuesday morning, the former president claimed on Truth Social that Capitol rioters behind bars were “convicted, or awaiting trial, on a giant lie.”
Chansley is followed from the Capitol by a police officer
Chansley, with his megaphone, is seen at the Capitol on January 6, 2021
“A radical left scam job. Thank you to Tucker Carlson and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy for what you both did,” Trump continued.
‘New video images are irrefutable.’
After Carlson’s broadcast aired, Trump also called for the January 6 “Unselect” committee to be prosecuted for “criminal fabrications” and said Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell “failed security.”
Footage also aired of Capitol agent Brian Sicknick, who died shortly after the riot.
It was initially suggested that Sicknick’s death was the result of an attack with a fire extinguisher and pepper spray by rioters.
But a medical examiner later ruled that he had died of natural causes. And Carlson shared footage of Sicknick walking through the Capitol after the attack.
He appeared in good health, which the Fox News host said poured cold water on liberal outlets’ insistence that the Capitol rioters had Sicknicks blood on their hands.
He also referenced Ray Epps, who was seen among the rioters urging them to storm the Capitol, but was never charged—provoking suspicion that Epps was an informant. Epps has denied working for the government.
On Monday, Carlson suggested that Epps was lying.
“They were orderly and meek,” Carlson said of those storming the Capitol. ‘These were not insurgents; they were tourists.’
Carlson said they “revere the Capitol, obviously,” noting that they took selfies and “lined up in neat little lines.”
Deadly rebellion. Everything about that sentence is a lie,” he said. “Very little around January 6 was organized or violent.”
“Surveillance videos from the Capitol show mostly peaceful chaos.”
Carlson pointed to images of the “QAnon Shaman” — a bare-chested, Viking-helmeted Jacob Chansley — in the Capitol.
Chansley, a 33-year-old Navy veteran from Arizona, was one of the most high-profile figures to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
He was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for ‘obstruction of official proceedings’.
In the footage, Chansley appears to be guided by an official as he wanders around the Capitol.
He passes a line of riot police, who make no move to stop him.
They then escort him to various entrances to the room, which appear to be locked, eventually finding him an open door through which he disappears.
“Virtually every moment of his time in the Capitol was captured on tape,” Carlson said.
“The tapes show that the Capitol Police never stopped Jacob Chansley. They helped him. They acted as his guides.’
Carlson also showed the moments after Officer Brian Sicknick was confronted by the rioters.
Sicknick, 42, died on January 7 – the day after the riot.
Brian Sicknick is seen shortly after the Capitol was breached. Carlson said he looked “healthy and vital.”
Sicknick, who died of a stroke on January 7, is seen performing his duties during the riot
Capitol rioter Julian Khater (pictured left) was sentenced to 80 months in prison for his role in the pepper spray attack on police officer Brian Sicknick (pictured right), who died the day after the January 6, 2021 riot. Tucker Carlson has now shared footage showing Sicknick looking healthy after the attack he suffered
In April 2021, the DC medical examiner ruled that Sicknick, who was injured during the confrontation with rioters, suffered a stroke and died of natural causes.
“To this day, media accounts describe Sicknick as someone who, I quote, was ‘killed’ on January 6,” Carlson said.
“The video we watched proves that to be a lie.”
Carlson said the officer was “healthy and vital” and noted that he was wearing a helmet.
“So it’s hard to imagine he died from a head injury,” he said.
“Whatever happened to Brian Sicknick was clearly not a result of violence he endured at the entrance to the Capitol.
“This tape puts an end to the most powerful and politically useful lie the Democrats have told us about Jan. 6.”
There have been multiple deaths related to the riot, including four Trump supporters — one of whom, Ashli Babbitt, was shot dead by Capitol police.
Trump supporters walk through the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Carlson described them as “tourists”
Carlson further suggested that alleged Capitol Rioter Ray Epps — pictured wearing a red Trump cap — was actually an FBI agent sent to foment violence. Epps denies claims
Four officers died by suicide in the days and weeks following the riot.
There have also been about 1,000 arrests.
The footage comes as Fox News continues to contest a $1.6 billion lawsuit brought against the broadcasting giant by Dominion, which made voting machines for the 2020 election.
Fox is being sued over claims that the network endorsed theories that the company’s voting machines were rigged to deliver a Biden win.
The broadcaster’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, was recently ousted over the lawsuit, saying he “would have liked (Fox) to have made a stronger denunciation of the stolen election claims.”
Fox News denies Dominion’s claims.